Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Skills for Health Care Reformers on WIHI

Guests:Parker J. Palmer, Founder
and Senior Partner, Center for Courage & Renewal; Author, Healing the Heart of
Democracy
Jeffrey D. Selberg, MHA, Executive
Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Institute for Healthcare
ImprovementThe health care
improvement community has often benefited from the work and perspective
of other industries. Taking a systems approach to improving quality and
safety in health care owes much to the concepts and work that turned
the tide on risks and defects and waste in aviation and
manufacturing.

The quality improvement movement has also benefited from the wisdom of
“outsiders” – individuals asked to look
in at what health care improvement is trying to achieve and to tell us
what we may be missing or what they see that we don't, because
we’re just too close to the problems and the day-to-day
solutions. Parker Palmer is just such a person, and he’s
visited with the improvement community before; in 1997 he delivered a
moving keynote at IHI’s National Forum about the challenges
of being a dedicated health care professional.

On the eve of the Supreme Court issuing its decision on the Affordable
Care Act, and with new policies and payment schemes and community-focus
reshaping the very core of what it means to be an effective health care
leader, WIHI thought this would be a perfect moment to invite Parker
Palmer to speak with us again. IHI Executive Vice President and COO,
Jeff Selberg, who knows Dr. Palmer’s ideas and writings
well, will help lead the discussion, along with WIHI host, Madge
Kaplan.

When one is committed to change, there are good days and bad, and
successes can easily be followed by disappointments and setbacks. The
challenge becomes how to hold the entire picture in a sort of
“creative tension,” to avoid retreating from the
public square, and to retain one’s openness and curiosity
when things don’t go as hoped or planned. Parker
Palmer is very aware of the tremendous pressures and challenges all
health care leaders and professionals now face to forge a new kind of
contract with payers and patients alike. It’s an exciting
time, and a difficult one. Parker Palmer, Jeff Selberg, and Madge
Kaplan invite you to bring both your acumen and your human spirit to
the June 20 WIHI. See you then!